Client

BP Pulse

Project

End-to-end electric vehicle (EV) charging experience

My role

Principal Service Designer

Summary

An effortless charging experience for electric vehicle owners at home and on the go, that takes a holistic approach to both physical and digital touchpoints.

The problems

Charging your electric vehicle is a confusing process that changes every time you use a new charger.

  • The business had limited understanding of customer pain points.
  • BP had separate apps for charging your EV at home and on their public network.
  • A lack of procurement specifications had resulted in BP's 9 charging units having vastly different steps.
  • Signage wasn’t standardised and the physical placement of charging units made parking difficult for customers.

    • Public charging & home charging apps when I joined

    Goals

    Understand EV driver pain points

    Gather business objectives & requirements

    Develop combined home & public charging app

    Standardise the process across all charging units

    BP charging station concept

    My role

    As the Principal Service Designer for BP Pulse I was responsible for conducting customer research, liaising with key stakeholders to understand business requirements, designing a new combined charging app and working with different departments to ensure a smooth experience across all touch points both physical and digital.

    The process

    Gather business requirements

    Develop personas

    Qualitative research

    Create journey maps

    Develop wireframes and process drafts

    Engage stakeholders

    Prioritise touch points

    Identify pain points

    Review with stakeholders

    Iterate designs & processes

    Develop UI where applicable

    Finalise designs

    Support implementation

    Handover to developers

    Present to stakeholders

    The process

    Gather business requirements

    Develop personas

    Qualitative research

    Prioritise touch points

    Identify pain points

    Create journey maps

    Engage stakeholders

    Develop wireframes and process drafts

    Review with stakeholders

    Finalise designs

    Develop UI where applicable

    Iterate designs & processes

    Present to stakeholders

    Handover to developers

    Support implementation

    The process

    Gather business requirements

    Develop personas

    Create journey maps

    Qualitative research

    Identify pain points

    Prioritise touch points

    Develop wireframes and process drafts

    Engage stakeholders

    Review with stakeholders

    Iterate designs & processes

    Finalise designs

    Develop UI where applicable

    Present to stakeholders

    Handover to developers

    Support implementation

    Qualitative research

    I conducted 12 qualitative interviews, each lasting 1 hour. The participants included 6 on-the-go customers and 6 home charging customers, representing diverse demographics in terms of age, income, and location. My role involved designing the screening brief and question sets, as well as personally conducting the interviews. I enlisted the help of a participant recruitment agency to find suitable interviewees.

    Through these interviews, we aimed to clarify and gain a deeper understanding of customers' opinions, behavior patterns, and experiences. The goal was to identify common trends or behavioral patterns, validate assumptions about how customers prefer to use our products, and bring attention to any frustrations that could be addressed or improved upon to enhance the overall customer experience.

    Customer research insights

    On-the-go public network charging

  • Choice of charger speed is tied to the customer’s mission and its length
  • Destination charging is most popular
  • Reliability, availability and data accuracy are the biggest customer pain points
  • Fault reporting is helps customers choose more reliable chargers
  • Customers do not want to see chargers that are irrelevant for their car
  • Most customers found initiating a charge confusing / intimidating the first time

    • Home charging

  • Home charging is preferred for most customers for its availability (private use) and convenience
  • Scheduling usage is almost non-existent
  • Home chargers were proposed or heavily influenced by car dealers
  • 3-pin cables heat up and make users feel concerned about fire risk

    • General observations

  • Charge price is not a consideration (for now)
  • Range anxiety is still very prevalent especially for new EV owners but it's because of the lack of working chargers, not their vehicles range
  • Vehicle stats are more appealing than charge history
  • Educational material, such as impact of cold weather, would be useful

    • Journey maps

    We categorised users into three distinct types and charted both their physical and emotional journeys which varied significantly. These users were:

  • Home charger users
  • Public charger users
  • Home charger users that use public chargers on longer journeys

    • Problem statement

    Electric vehicle owners face a frustrating challenge in consistently locating operational fast charging points, leading to heightened anxiety about public charging. While home charging is perceived as more convenient, the complex installation process and limited accessibility pose obstacles. Additionally, the need for separate apps for charging in each context adds to the inconvenience, contributing to the perceived difficulty of charging electric vehicles and acting as a barrier to mass adoption.

    Value proposition

    Enable customers to seamlessly transition between home charging and public charging, providing a straightforward and accessible solution that instills confidence and comfort in the process of charging their electric vehicles at any location.

    Mapping & standardising charging unit process

    BP Pulse currently offers 9 charging units on their public charging network, each characterised by a unique sequence of steps. To address this inconsistency, I documented the charging process for each unit, identifying variations. Subsequently, I synthesised the findings into a unified and consistent process. Collaborating with procurement and engineering teams, I ensured that the newly developed process accommodated any technical limitations. This standardised procurement specification is now employed by BP for all newly commissioned charging units. Engineering teams are actively working to systematically update existing units to adhere to the same sequence of screens.

    VW 250kW charger

    350kW charger

    150kW charger

    50kW charger

    22kW charger

    Charging unit model

    Combined home & public charging app

    As part of the overall improvement to the user experience, a key component was the creation of a new integrated EV charging app. This app enables customers to effortlessly transition between charging their electric vehicles at home and using the public network, eliminating the need to switch between separate applications. The existing individual apps were outdated and lacked essential features. This comprehensive overhaul provided an opportunity to completely redesign them, resulting in the development of a single, unified application.

    Competitor audit

    In addition to the customer research I conducted, I audited other apps on the market to determine what and where improvements could be made. These apps included Zapmap, Shell, FastNed, Instavolt, Plugshare, Volta, ChargePoint and Elctrify America.

    Competitor audit

    In addition to the customer research I conducted, I audited other apps on the market to determine what where improvements could be made. These apps included Zapmap, Shell, FastNed, Instavolt, Plugshare, Volta, ChargePoint and Elctrify America.

    Zapmap EV charging app

    Shell EV charging app

    Home charging considerations

    The home charging screens needed to contain all of the same features as the old app in the addition to scheduling, as new mandatory legislation took effect in early 2022.

    Clearly showing when a schedule would take effect and what tariff was in effect was also important to consider.

    On-the-go charging considerations

  • Customers wished to save their vehicle information and automatically filter charging units to match their vehicle's plug type. Enhancing the clustering and map pin design to alleviate confusion related to various coloured pins and the overall density was a significant focus.
  • Improving clustering and map pin design to reduce confusion around different coloured pins and the overwhelming density was a key consideration.
  • Prioritise charger information to a prominent level, eliminating the need for users to navigate in and out of chargers to verify their operational status and availability.
  • Provide customers with clear, step-by-step instructions for charging their vehicles to minimise uncertainty.
  • Develop straightforward and engaging notifications and charge summaries for customers when a charging session is completed or interrupted.
    •

    Deliverables

    There were 4 primary deliverables handed over:

  • Personas and journey maps
  • Customer research report
  • Standardised charging unit procurement spec
  • Finished designs for the combined charging app

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    Copyright Alison Howard